Samurai Flamenco seems to be a parody of bad superhero shows and also itself is a bad superhero show. It seems to make fun of forced emotion and drama and follow it up by unironically forcing emotion and drama. It seems to be a show that cares about its characters and has some form of real message to give, but is also completely mindless in the presentation of those messages. At the end of the day all I can say for certain is that it is compelling. Whether it's compelling to see the surprisingly good character growth, or just to see how stupid things can actually get.
It's a tough show to write a review for. But just to touch on the specific categories reviews here are divided into generally:
The story is absolutely batshit crazy. Twists that aren't foreshadowed left and right, genre shifts mid episode, plot holes left and right. But somehow even within this fucked up system things work. The narrative is funny, and fun to watch unfold.
At times the animation during the action sequences is genuinely very good. At times the characters faces looked like fucked up memes during conversation or still shots. It's a mixed bag but it evens out to "average".
The sound is pretty solid all the way through. Good VA work, two awesome OPs, fairly solid music during the show.
The characters are where the show truly shines. Always likeable, many with a lot of nuance, and somehow generally very human despite existing within the context of such an insane narrative.
I didn't want to like Samurai Flamenco initially, I tried not to initially, but I did. I liked the flawed artwork. I liked the ridiculous narrative and untelegraphed twists. I liked the characters. And I'd like to go ahead and give it a solid 8/10.
